D3 price drops further on Amazon...

... Do you think this will continue in the next few months as the D700 is released. I know it is around $4000 in Japan now. Is that were we

in U.S. are heading as well?

Maybe the price drop is just a response to the economic recession or dealers clearing out existign stock prior to inventorying for tax purposes?

 

But of course without asking the dealer why he is lowering the retail price you just can't tell. I can tell you this from my knowledge of retail: shop owners like to maximize cash flow on the the inventory they already have in hand.

Prices are determined by supply and demand. The early heavy demand on the D3 were fulfilled within 3, 4 months

since its introduction around November 30 last year. Now that the D700 will soon be available, it'll further

divert some

of the demand, but I am sure some of Nikon's manufacturing capacity has already been shifted to the D700 plus

whatever the next new camera will be.

 

If you can wait a few more months, I would imagine that the D3 will be selling in the low $4000 range in the US.

I see that there are already gray-market ones that are matching the low prices in Japan.

No kidding, just the last three months in central Europe (Austria),

 

http://geizhals.at/?phist=274756&age=91

 

There is no economic recession here.

 

- Sergey

It appears that product maturity is speeding up along with the rapid introduction of new products.

 

I bought a D2x one year after it was first available and the price was down "only" US$550.00, though I did buy it

at a time when there was also a $500 Nikon rebate, so I essentially paid US$3,950.00.

There is a small whole sales shop in the Hong Kong Holiday Inn where you can get the D3 for about $3,600.